But the current market environment, with all its volatility and unexpected moves, reflects riding a bike around Washington. There are times you have to work really hard, and times when you can ease off a bit. There are big uphill and downhill moves, and it’s almost like riding around with your eyes closed in a lot of ways.

Given the uncertainty in the world right now both in the markets and with life in general, I seem to be getting more questions than usual submitted to the mailbag for The Final Bar on StockCharts TV. We run a mailbag segment twice a week, and it’s really a great opportunity for me to help people along in their journey of navigating the markets.

“A man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.”

That’s a quote from John Foster Dulles, and if you don’t know him, you may be familiar with Washington Dulles airport which was named after him. Dulles was the Secretary of State under President Eisenhower in the 1950s.

To be honest, this quote has always bothered me. Why? I am not a detail-oriented person. At. All.

Believe it or not, “work” can actually mean standing still.

In my previous role at a large financial institution, I found that “work” meant “activity”. When someone was working, a lot of times that meant they were taking action…

FOMO is something we’ve talked about in investing for awhile now, especially after more than a decade of bull markets in stocks. FOMO, or the Fear Of Missing Out, is what is motivating investors to continue to buy stocks on the way up- this idea that stock prices could go to the moon and they don’t want to miss out …

In case you’ve missed it, we have recently found ourselves in a bear market environment.

The first quote I want to share with you about this market environment is,

“Bull markets are great, but they breed complacency. Bear markets can be energizing. Instead of fretting over the decline in your net worth think opportunistically about all of those bargains and the potential gains when inevitably a bull market returns.” – James B. Stewart

I wanted to share with you a quote from Jesse Livermore, which says “there is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side”.

I recently commented that bond prices had completed a bullish continuation pattern, suggesting further upside for prices, and therefore, a further downside for interest rates. I received some pushback suggesting that interest rates were at all-lows. How could I possibly see further upside for bond prices?

When you check your portfolio to discover that your holdings are going down, or already in the red, how does that make you feel, physically? Likely, it is a slightly painful feeling and you get sweaty palms, feel lightheaded, get a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach, or maybe you feel pessimistic (or optimistic)?

I read a quote recently that says, “When you know a thing to hold that you know it and when you do not know a thing to allow that you do not know it, this is knowledge.” Confucius.